Boom goes the dynamite

[DOMS]

Your overall workout is solid, but those pull-ups really stand out!

And congrats on the graduation!

 

[goob]

Nice work Dan. Pullups looking really strong.

Congrats on graduation, by the sound of it you truely know your stuff, (unlike most graduates - myself included) so I think you'll rise through the corporate ladder with ease.

 

[danzik17]

5/12/08 - High Rep / High Intensity

Apparently my college gym is open for Senior Week (WOOT) but it also closes at 8PM (DOH). I'll know for next time, but I was only able to fit about half of my normal workout.

Squats: 165lbs 5x5
Pullups: BW + 1 chain (about 20-25lbs) 5x3, BW 3x1 + 10 or so negatives
I didn't have time to even do my last set of pullups, so I just started banging out negatives. By the time I was done, it hurt. A lot.

 

[danzik17]

Also although my diet is kind of shitty this week seeing as how it's Senior Week and diet is semi on hold, I'm already thinking of my next one.

I've been watching Milos Sarcev talk about nutrition and he's sort of talked me into doing some carb tapering throughout the day. I'm going to design a diet where I am eating a set amount of fat and protein at each meal, but taper my carbs throughout the day with a spike in Pre/Post workout meal. I'm also going to alternate calorie days with probably 2200 calories on days I'm not working out, and 2400 calories on days that I am. The 200 calorie spike will likely come from 50g extra carbs that I will eat pre and post WO. Probably something like 30g additional carbs in the Pre, 20g in the Post.

Any thoughts on that?

 

[danzik17]

5/19/08 - High Intensity / High Volume

Squats: 145lbs 5x1, 165lbs 5x1, 170lbs 5x3 (PR since I hurt my leg)
Pullups: BW + 1 chain 5x3, 4x1 + 2 negatives, 3x1 (Gettin better)
Leg Press: 515lbs 5x2, 565lbs 5x3 (PR, last rep was ouch)
T-Bar Rows: 170lbs 5x5

Accessory....Dips? 10x2, 6x1

Overall pretty happy considering how much I drank and how much shit I ate last week (Senior Week). I feel like I actually came back stronger. I can't believe I had the gas to do dips at the end but what the hell.

I'm going to drop the low intensity day and replace it with an intro to HIIT that I've been reading about on Built's blog - I need to start doing it, or I'm never going to get better at it.

 

[Irons77]

Hey bro good looking journal you got. That diet is a good one,, I'm on it now. Non training days I take in around 2030 cals and training days I take in 2380 cals. The carbs is what goes up on training days. 67g on off days and 160g on training days. Works great for me on my cut. I'm losing the fat but no mass. 1-2 pounds a week. Just to let you know it works.

 

[danzik17]

Hey bro good looking journal you got. That diet is a good one,, I'm on it now. Non training days I take in around 2030 cals and training days I take in 2380 cals. The carbs is what goes up on training days. 67g on off days and 160g on training days. Works great for me on my cut. I'm losing the fat but no mass. 1-2 pounds a week. Just to let you know it works.

Cool, good to know. I'm going to write up that new diet this week and start it either next week or the week after. I don't know the exact timing since I'm going to be doing a lot of apartment hunting and moving which can really screw with how often I can eat.

 

[goob]

Holy shit!! Awesome numbers on the leg press. Good job on the PR's, numbers are looking damn good.

 

[danzik17]

HIIT Attempt #1

So my legs were really tired today from that Monday workout. Really really tired. As in walking up stairs was painful. I didn't think it could get any worse.

Then I did HIIT. I wanted to freaking cry. 7-8 minutes into it, I just could not force my legs to push the pedals on the cycle anymore. Physically I think could do it, but my brain was just like "fuck that". So I ended up just walking on the treadmill for about 8 mins and calling it a day.


Cardio/HIIT:

2 minute warmup on the bike

7 minutes worth of Built's "8 seconds of glory" deal.

3 minutes on the treadmill

1.5 minutes of more glory.

5 minutes on the treadmill.







Faceplant.

I'm just happy that I started doing it though, I've never done cardio to any big degree so I needed to start sometime.

 

[danzik17]

Holy shit!! Awesome numbers on the leg press. Good job on the PR's, numbers are looking damn good.

Thanks. I don't know why my numbers on that are high but my squats seem to be lagging comparatively. I'm only doing like 170lb squats, but I should probably be doing closer to 200lb (just going from other people's journals). I wonder what is slowing me down.

 

[danzik17]

Here's my new meal plan idea that I'll be starting soon (as in next week after I move). The idea is to load up on the vast majority of my carbs in the first two meals of the day on non-workout days since that is theoretically when I will need the energy from them. On workout days, I will add additional carbs to my Pre and Post meals for energy. I also left about 40 calories of play room since I always pull in a few extra calories from SF maple syrup and the little bit of Half/Half that I put in my coffee.

Meal 1:
2 whole eggs
6 egg whites
0.75 cup oats

Meal 2:
8oz chicken
0.5 cups oats

Meal 3:
8oz chicken
3 fish oil caps

Meal 4:
2 whole eggs
6 egg whites
3 fish oil caps

Meal 5:
8oz chicken
3 fish oil caps
1 tbsp natty PB

Meal 6:
6oz steak
2 tbsp natty pb

On workout days I will be adding 200 additional calories in the form of 50g carbs split between 30g Pre and 20g Post.

Macros:

251g protein
87g fat
84g carbs

2167 calories on non-WO days

2367 calories on WO days

Calories: 2167

There will be a bunch of different types of chicken so I don't go insane, but they will only be no calorie seasonings. Mostly garlic, pepper, soy sauce, and mustard. Habanero/Jalapeno mustard = delicious.

 

[goob]

Thanks. I don't know why my numbers on that are high but my squats seem to be lagging comparatively. I'm only doing like 170lb squats, but I should probably be doing closer to 200lb (just going from other people's journals). I wonder what is slowing me down.

Don't worry about it, I'm quite similar, my squat is ok, but my leg press is waaay better. Just one of those things.

Sometimes I've found, just pushing yourself just outside your comfort zone i,e forcibly going for a PR, can work wonders. I smashed my DL on a weekly basis using that.

 

[danzik17]

Well my right leg is weaker than my left, so I'm not comfortable going for heavy PRs on squats a lot without good spotters. Needless to say, good spotters don't exist in my college gym (maybe in a few weeks when I move, but probably not).

Leg Press is a different story though because I know that I can handle the weight, and the worst thing that happens is that I have to slowly let it down to the safeties. Can't do that on squats.

 

[goob]

Well my right leg is weaker than my left, so I'm not comfortable going for heavy PRs on squats a lot without good spotters. Needless to say, good spotters don't exist in my college gym (maybe in a few weeks when I move, but probably not).

Leg Press is a different story though because I know that I can handle the weight, and the worst thing that happens is that I have to slowly let it down to the safeties. Can't do that on squats.

What about the squat rack? Is there adjustable bars that you could use? If you switched to front squat, you could bail if you really needed and the bars would catch it, I'm not sure about back squats though.

I hear you on being apprehensive. I would totally avoid squats and deads for ages, and when I did do squats I went light. However, I bit the bullet, and just went for it. As long as you use a little sense ( and not do unintentional PR's... like some) you will be fine.

 

[danzik17]

Yea there is adjustable bars, but the problem is with how my legs would fail. Since my right leg is weaker than my left, it will give out first obviously. That means that all of the sudden, my right side is falling while my left is still supported (this actually happened, but I had two spotters at the time). It's just a really dangerous position to be in.

I didn't even realize that it was happening at the time, I thought I had just put too much weight on one side by accident. Looked in the mirror and my right leg was like collapsing, but my left was holding strong.

I do need to start doing front squats, I just haven't gotten around to learning the motion yet.

 

[goob]

Yea there is adjustable bars, but the problem is with how my legs would fail. Since my right leg is weaker than my left, it will give out first obviously. That means that all of the sudden, my right side is falling while my left is still supported (this actually happened, but I had two spotters at the time). It's just a really dangerous position to be in.

I didn't even realize that it was happening at the time, I thought I had just put too much weight on one side by accident. Looked in the mirror and my right leg was like collapsing, but my left was holding strong.

I do need to start doing front squats, I just haven't gotten around to learning the motion yet.

That sounds pretty bad, but I think if you did front, you could bail a lot easier, even in that situation. Thats almost happend to me, but I ot out easy enough. Fronts are way superior to back IMO, you can go deeper, and they really do a number on your core.

 

[danzik17]

Well this week is my "B" workout week so I won't be hitting squats much. Maybe for warming up I'll do some light front squats so I start getting used to it faster - a quarter on each side of the bar for 1 set won't fatigue me too much for the rest of the workout.

 

[danzik17]

5/27/08 - High Rep / High Intensity - "B" Workout

Quick Warmup:

Front Squats - 75 lbs 10x3 - (Looking to eventually replace back squats with these, so I need to learn the movement. Still leaning a bit too forward since I'm used to back squats with the weight on the other side)
Romanian Deadlifts: 95lbs 10x1, 135lbs 5x3, 155 lbs 5x1 (These felt way better than normal deadlifts. Permanent replacement)
Hyperextensions: BW + 25lbs 5x5
Dips: BW + 2 chains 5x5
DB Press: 60lbs 5x1, 65lbs 3x1, 60lbs 5x1, 4x1, 3x1 (Yea. Let's just say my pre-wo meal said "hello" with the effort I was putting into the 65lb set.)

 

[goob]

Good job Dan. How did you find the front squats. Did you do them normal or that mad crossed armed olympic style?

The DOMS you get after going for them the first time is crazy. RDL's feel easier than standard deads to me too.

 

[danzik17]

I tried both, but I couldn't balance the weight doing it crossed armed. It's going to take a little while to be able to do them since my arms and wrists aren't flexible enough yet to do it comfortably. Figure if I just do some light sets every single time I go to the gym, I'll get the flexibility to move up soon enough.

And yea my hams are crying right now from the RDLs. I haven't done any really good exercises for them in quite a while now.

 

[goob]

I tried both, but I couldn't balance the weight doing it crossed armed. It's going to take a little while to be able to do them since my arms and wrists aren't flexible enough yet to do it comfortably. Figure if I just do some light sets every single time I go to the gym, I'll get the flexibility to move up soon enough.

And yea my hams are crying right now from the RDLs. I haven't done any really good exercises for them in quite a while now.

It's tough on the wrists. Try and balance it on your collerbone to a certain degree I found that helps. Sometimes I do them with a slightly wider grip, which sometimes helps too. Either way, they are a tough beast. You'll see just how much they work you all over when you get up to a weight that challenges you more.

Good work though.

 

[soxmuscle]

Why are you dumping back squats for front squats?

 

[danzik17]

Why are you dumping back squats for front squats?

Because on back squats I'm concerned about lifting heavy and still being able to safely dump the weight (sans spotters, good ones are rare). I have a weird imbalance between my right and left legs to the point where if my legs fail in a certain way it can be incredibly dangerous.

 

[danzik17]

Anyway just a quick update. I did some HIIT last Thursday, but I'm too lazy to to an update on that honestly.

Signed a lease starting next Saturday so I'll be able to stop doing these ridiculous 4 hour/day commutes. It's close enough to work where I'll be able to bike - on the way back it's two miles uphill. Thats going to go a long way towards helping me lean out. There is also a gym in the building where I work that opens at 8AM - I haven't checked it out yet, but it would be pretty convenient if it's any good.

That's it for now, there really isn't going to be any training this week. Between work and 4 hour commutes I'm dead, not to mention I don't have a place to train right now near my house.

 

[danzik17]

I have good news and bad news.

The good: I'm back in the gym after moving.
The bad: It's a Planet Fitness

I'm going to have to see if I can find a better one thats not a shit ton more expensive within the 3 day cancellation period. Only reason I even considered it was that it was 20$/mo.

6/9/08 - High Intensity / High Volume

Squats: 135 10x1, 155 5x1, 165 5x3
Pullups: BW 10, 10, 8, 6, 3 (No weight belt at PF. Fuck)
Nautilus Leg Press: 385 5x5 - What the fuck is with this machine. I almost killed myself on it at first. I loaded it up my normal weight of like 600lbs only to find that Nautilus decided to do some fucked up angled motion, not a normal leg press. Thank god for the fucking supports because I was not ready to catch the weight in the direction it was headed.
T-Bar Rows: 135 5x1, 160 5x2, 170 5x2

Dips: 10x3 (They only have the pussy assisted dip machines. What the hell. How am I going to do BW + 25lbs on one of those PoS)

Yea, I need to find a better gym. Fast.

 

[danzik17]

Just looked and the only other two viable places are a Fitness Edge and a World Gym.

There is also a small gym in our office that I can join for 30$ for life, but it is understandably pretty small. It has enough dumbells I guess, but there is no normal squat rack, only some type of cable support squat rack. I also didn't see any kind of dipping station. I could give it a shot, but it is lacking a few things that I love to do (namely dips). I don't remember if it had an actual pullup bar, but I'm sure there is something that I could improvise on.

 

[goob]

I have good news and bad news.

The good: I'm back in the gym after moving.
The bad: It's a Planet Fitness

I'm going to have to see if I can find a better one thats not a shit ton more expensive within the 3 day cancellation period. Only reason I even considered it was that it was 20$/mo.

6/9/08 - High Intensity / High Volume

Squats: 135 10x1, 155 5x1, 165 5x3
Pullups: BW 10, 10, 8, 6, 3 (No weight belt at PF. Fuck)
Nautilus Leg Press: 385 5x5 - What the fuck is with this machine. I almost killed myself on it at first. I loaded it up my normal weight of like 600lbs only to find that Nautilus decided to do some fucked up angled motion, not a normal leg press. Thank god for the fucking supports because I was not ready to catch the weight in the direction it was headed.
T-Bar Rows: 135 5x1, 160 5x2, 170 5x2

Dips: 10x3 (They only have the pussy assisted dip machines. What the hell. How am I going to do BW + 25lbs on one of those PoS)

Yea, I need to find a better gym. Fast.

I've been close doing doing something similar to that nautilus catastrophy before. You paint a funny picture Dan.
Awesome workout though, T-Bars looking VERY strong.

$30 for life? You could do a lot with just DB's, Deads, goblet squats etc. May not be a bad option if you can make do with some improvisation.

Keep up the good fight.

 

[danzik17]

6/13/08 - Low Volume / High Intensity

Front Squats: 95 lbs 10x1, 115lbs 10x1 (Just to do it)
Back Squats: 170lbs 3x3
Pullups: BW + 25lbs 4x1, 3x2, BW 3x1
Leg Press: 445 20x1, 12x1

Well I signed up at a gym called "The Fitness Edge" and it kicks the shit out of Planet Fitness. It had everything I was looking for and then some, the only catch is its about double the distance. Oh well, can't have it all.

I ran out of time since it was the last gym I visited today, so I didn't get to do T-Bar Rows and I crammed Leg Presses into 2 sets. Two fucking hard sets.

 

[goob]

6/13/08 - Low Volume / High Intensity

Front Squats: 95 lbs 10x1, 115lbs 10x1 (Just to do it)
Back Squats: 170lbs 3x3
Pullups: BW + 25lbs 4x1, 3x2, BW 3x1
Leg Press: 445 20x1, 12x1

Well I signed up at a gym called "The Fitness Edge" and it kicks the shit out of Planet Fitness. It had everything I was looking for and then some, the only catch is its about double the distance. Oh well, can't have it all.

I ran out of time since it was the last gym I visited today, so I didn't get to do T-Bar Rows and I crammed Leg Presses into 2 sets. Two fucking hard sets.

Good workout, esp. the Leg presses.

After a bit of experimentation, I think the best way for front squats is to have your hands just slightly wider than shoulder width (I'm talking a cm or so here), and balance the bar on your collar bone, chest puffed out.

Still not great on the wrists, but better than other ways.

How did you find it worked on your core? I find that the best benefit, although I have'nt done back squats for a while, and could put more up with them- so quads might benefit more for me on that account.

On another note. How's the job going?

 

[danzik17]

6/16/08 - High Intensity / High Volume

RDLs: 135lbs 5x2, 145lbs 5x3
Dips: BW + 25 lbs 5x4, 7x1
Hyperextensions: BW + 25lbs ?x5 (I kept fucking this up and doing more reps than I planned on. Hell if I know what they were. Somewhere between 5-13 reps.)
DB Press: 55lbs 5x5